Countdown Zero – Jack Mars

They had spent the afternoon and most of the night waiting. In other words, they had spent the afternoon and most of the night sitting on their asses and doing nothing. When Penny finally called and said, “I have three probable locations for the primary source of the Scorpion’s command signal,” Maya nearly shouted for joy. She ran to Trent, who was sleeping on the cot, but before she could shake him awake, he said, “I heard.

No beauty sleep for me.” “No amount of sleep could make you beautiful,” Penny quipped. “Ha ha,” Trent said, pulling his boots on. “You’ve been married to Todd for too long.” Maya liked the banter they shared in the unit, but she was impatient to get to the meat and potatoes of the call.

“What are the locations, Penny?” “I have three of them,” Penny replied. “One in the Sonora Desert outside of Phoenix, Arizona; one in the mountain forests of northern Montana in the same rough neighborhood as Glacier National Park; and one underneath a closed auto parts store in Detroit, Michigan.” Trent blinked. “Detroit?

Seriously?” “Is that less surprising than an abandoned mini-zoo outside of Las Vegas?” “I guess not,” Trent said. “Okay, so three targets. One each for me, Maya, and Bolton?” Todd replied to that. “Is Bolton there?” Trent looked at Maya. “No, it’s just us.” “Good, then I can say this without any hurt feelings. Bolton is a bludgeon. I need three scalpels.

The third man of your group is going to be Zero.” In the background of the call, Maya heard a familiar voice curse. “God damn it.” “Dad?” “Yeah, it’s me,” Zero said. “Shit. I knew this shit was gonna happen.” Maya sighed. “I understand, Dad. I’ve been having some trouble over the Maya and Sara thing too. Believe me, if I could have avoided bringing you in, I would have.

I actually tried to protest calling you in to consult, but the mission evolved.” “Yeah, I get it,” Zero replied. “It just sucks. You know they’re alone right now.” “They’re not alone,” Todd said. “I have guards watching Sara’s apartment, and I have guards watching your house. Anything happens, and we’re going to know about it right away.” “Yeah, and we won’t be there to do anything about it,” Zero protested. “You know who will be here?”

Todd fired back. “The literal wrath of God.

USA Today and #1 bestselling author Jack Mars is the author of numerous thriller series, including Luke Stone, Troy Stark, Spy Game, and Jake Mercer series. Jack’s latest releases are the Lara King, Grant Valor, Axel Strike, and Cole Hunter series. Many of Jack’s titles are available for free. Please visit Jack’s author page to find out more. Please visit jackmarsauthor.com to learn more, join the email list, receive free books, and stay in touch.

Copyright © 2026 by Jack Mars. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the author. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only.

This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy.

Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Jacket image Copyright Freezeman Studio, used under license from Shutterstock.com. OceanofPDF.com SERIES BY JACK MARS COLE HUNTER AXEL STRIKE GRANT VALOR LARA KING TYLER WOLF JAKE MERCER THE SPY GAME TROY STARK LUKE STONE THE FORGING OF LUKE STONE AGENT ZERO OceanofPDF.com CONTENTS PROLOGUE CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER TWO CHAPTER THREE CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE CHAPTER SIX CHAPTER SEVEN CHAPTER EIGHT CHAPTER NINE CHAPTER TEN CHAPTER ELEVEN CHAPTER TWELVE CHAPTER THIRTEEN CHAPTER FOURTEEN CHAPTER FIFTEEN CHAPTER SIXTEEN CHAPTER SEVENTEEN CHAPTER EIGHTEEN CHAPTER NINETEEN CHAPTER TWENTY CHAPTER TWENTY ONE CHAPTER TWENTY TWO CHAPTER TWENTY THREE CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE CHAPTER TWENTY SIX EPILOGUE OceanofPDF.com PROLOGUE Nine months earlier…

Captain Brandon Hale met the eyes of Vice Admiral Katherine Perry and resisted the urge to reach across the desk and tear her eyes out. They’d see how smug her smile was then. He didn’t, though. He wouldn’t end his career as a warrior by throwing a tantrum and gratifying some fat, useless bitch who wouldn’t know a navy from a hemorrhoid.

“We’ll be in touch with the ceremonial details,” Perry was saying. “But in the meantime, you can consider your active career at an end.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: fb74b5418bc8a8f7
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 2,887,667 bytes (2.754 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• Pages: 303
• Language: English (en)

Reading & Word Statistics

• Estimated Reading Time: 334.14 minutes
• Total Words: 66,828
• Total Characters: 377,488
• Average Words per Page: 220.55
• Average Characters per Page: 1245.83

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